Until you get the bugs worked out of this game, it NEEDS multiple save-game files. That way when we encounter game-breaking bugs, we can go back to a save game from before we were affected instead of having to start a new game.

I sent three of my crew (including captain) aboard an enemy ship and slaughtered the crew, and then saved and exited before beaming them back aboard my ship. When I loaded the game later on, the enemy ship, and the three crew I sent aboard, were gone. Completely. I couldn't even see the icons that you can click on to center-view on them. Just the crew that was still aboard. I had to start a whole new game.

I like the tension and sense of finality of not being able to recover a lost crew member by loading an old save. I also like playing early access games and providing feedback (I used to work on HL2 mods and android apps). Game breaking bugs are to be expected in early access alpha stage games, but if I have to start from scratch everytime I encounter one of these bugs, I will get frustrated to the point of abandoning the game and ceasing to provide feedback. And I'm sure that plenty of other reasonable early-access gamers feel the same way. This really should have been done already.

Once those bugs have been worked out, multiple saves can be removed, or limited to lower difficulty levels.

I have to agree. I fought (and won) a battle in a nebula that prevented the use of weaponry (boarding party ftw). I saved after the fight and logged out. I came back later, spooled up the hyperdrive and when I clicked the green arrow ... nothing happened. I tried it for different destinations, multiple times each, I tried reloading, etc. Nothing worked. I had a fairly advanced game as well ... having multiple save files would be a god-send for alpha-testing.